Ɵ SYLVANUS MORGAN (1620-1693)THE GENEOLOGIE OF WILLIAM BARNARDISTON, DESCENDED OUT OF SUFFOLKE AND DRAWNE DOWNE & CONTINUED TO THIS PRESENT YEARE ANNO 1647 An armorial roll showing the arms of Barnardiston below five generations of arms and names. On vellum.126cm x 36cm Provenance: Created for Arthur Barnardiston's father at Brightwell Hall Removed to Weston Hall and thence by descent. Catalogue Note: Sylvanus Morgan (1620-1693), arms painter and author, was born in London in March 1620. His first printed work, in 1648, was a poem entitled London, King Charles his Augusta, or, City Royal of the Founders. Morgan's best-known work, The Sphere of Gentry, Deduced from the Principles of Nature: an Historical and Genealogical Work of Arms and Blazon, in Four Books, was published in 1661-3. Since it was written and partly printed during the Commonwealth, hurried revisions were made to meet the new circumstances of the Restoration. Morgan was a leading member of the Painter-Stainers' Company and was involved in attempts to settle disputes between the company and the College of Arms. He became master in 1676. The writer on heraldry John Gibbon, a friend, described Morgan as 'a witty man, full of fancy, very agreeable company, [who] lived credibly'. He was, he wrote, 'the prince of armes-painters' [DNB]